Aggression vs. Play

[Bestoutwest]

I was out in the field today with the wife fixing fence when we were approached by a heifer. She squared up on us and bounced on her front feet, tail out behind her while shaking her head. She then proceeded to follow us for a while trotting and then doing the squaring up/bouncing thing. My wife screamed and fled into the neighbor's field. This heifer has done this to me before, but then quit it the next time I was around her. When we loaded them up to go to the vet's she tried 'pushing' the calf in to the trailer and ended up pounded the heck out of her about two feet from me and almost caught me up in the frenzy.

Either way I'm going to ship her, but I'd like to know what I'm dealing with. The weird thing is that her dam and half sibling don't exhibit the aggression. The mother will shake her head but will not come at you.

Thanks guys. Needless to say, I had a pretty big adrenaline dump and the wife is pretty amped up about it still.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I have some heifers that do that .. mine are just playing .. it's because I hand raise them and they are too much like a pet .. they are to comfortable around people. . The heifer my wife kept because she bottle raised her will run full speed across the pasture and slide to a stop with in feet of me .. when I walk off she bucks and kicks out .. she will run ahead of me and square up shaking her head .. but all she wants is scratched .. my wife gets scared too .. I learned when I was young it's easier to dodge a mad cow than it is to run from one ...

 

[Kell-inKY]

I have one exactly like that, she is too friendly and does not know her boundaries. A whack across the nose with a stick will calm her down quickly.

If she was being aggressive, you would know it, she sounds like she is playing and not mean. All of mine act like teenagers when you let them out on new pasture, even the bull. I've been chased by mean ones before, and they did not act like that, all business.

Of course, a heifer like that can be just as dangerous, the one I have head butted me in the rear when I was putting hay out one time. She will probably make a trip after her calf is weaned.

 

[Nesikep]

I've got one that loves to kick up her heels and play, she's 3 years old now.. I know she would never hurt me out of malice, but it could happen by accident... she LOVES all people is a suck for attention, just gets a little excited... As she gets older and feels the effects of gravity a little more she'll settle down. She is bossy with other cattle though, and gets very jealous.

Then you have the indian cattle I hauled last week to the sale barn.. they'd charge you from across the pen, and I got slammed into the fence by a young bull... bruised my hip on the fence railing, it could have been a lot worse.

It sounds like your heifer is playing, but if you're uncomfortable with it and it puts you on edge, getting rid of her is just fine by me. Does she ever paw the ground? I'd take that as a definite sign of aggression.

 

[dun]

I have some heifers that do that .. mine are just playing .. it's because I hand raise them and they are too much like a pet .. they are to comfortable around people. . The heifer my wife kept because she bottle raised her will run full speed across the pasture and slide to a stop with in feet of me .. when I walk off she bucks and kicks out .. she will run ahead of me and square up shaking her head .. but all she wants is scratched .. my wife gets scared too .. I learned when I was young it's easier to dodge a mad cow than it is to run from one ...

We don;t have any bottle calves, other then a 7 year old. Some of ours do the same thing, others just look at them like they're nuts. Unless they try to make contact I see it as just playing.

 

[coachg]

I'm saying play. I have grown cows that act like that as I'm putting hay out on the tractor.

 

[Karin]

I'm voting for play too. I've had steers do that to me plenty of times, and actually had one do that to me yesterday on a farm visit and all I did was approach him in a calm yet assertive manner to let him know I wouldn't take any of his BS and he skittered away like a chicken to join his buddies. I've done the same thing with heifers and steers, chase them off (not run just walk toward them real business-like) to show quite plainly that I mean business and they learn surprisingly quick to leave me be. Very rarely do I ever use the stick method, I never see the point of using one unless there's a really, really good reason for it. Otherwise, body language and how you act and are really thinking when simply being around them is the clincher (usually) to getting a pesky bovine to learn you're not a play toy.

 

[TCRanch]

Trust your gut. My herd is docile, all hand-feeders, love to be scratched and they do get bunky every once in a while but there's a difference between being on-guard & afraid. If I'm afraid, that cow (or especially bull) goes. When we retain heifers there's always a couple that do the "gorilla walk" just to test you. The ones that don't back down when I challenge them earn a one-way ticket. I agree that she was probably just playing & worth another chance.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Vote for playing here also.

 

[regolith]

She's playing, and she needs to learn boundaries.
Not a bad idea to have a stick to hand to teach her if she's getting too close.

 

[Bestoutwest]

Thanks for all the replies guys and gals. I talked to my wife about it today after reading these. She's still pretty freaked out by it, and since she's the only help I've got I've got to make her feel comfortable. Especially since in the fall I'll be having ankle surgery and will be non weight-bearing for about 12 weeks. Also, we had our bull in there with her and he never, ever once gave her a glance. The other heifer that was there, and the cow, were targeted every month by him pretty hard but he never gave this one a second look. So...into someone's freezer she goes. I'll take the money and replace her with something black, red, or red/white and then I'll hopefully pocket some $$, too.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Brute 23]

She is playing. Most cattle do that when they think they are going to be fed. Heck mine do it when I open the gate to a new pasture.

Cattle are not pets. You are more likely to be hurt by the one that lets you pet and scratch on it than that heifer.

 

[Muddy]

She is playing. A mad cow do not act like that and there is no reason for her to goes in freezer.

 

[suzorse]

play here also , and the bull could of tagged her with out you seeing a thing like in the middle of the night , she will settle down
Suzanne

 

[JMJ Farms]

play here also , and the bull could of tagged her with out you seeing a thing like in the middle of the night , she will settle down
Suzanne

That's how it usually happens :hide:

 

[Luca Brasi]

A playful bovine will hurt you just as well as an aggressive one. The intent doesn't matter since the resulting injury to you or the wife will be the same. Animal shelters are full of dogs that are there because their owners didn't understand their basic behavior. Now we are seeing the same thing happening with cattle. Good animals getting shipped that don't need to. Not really my business since it's not my farm, my time or my money, but I just hate preventable waste and it's a damn shame.

For amusement I sometimes follow some of the backyard farmer type forums watching for disasters in the making by some of these people, because you usually can't tell them otherwise. Any bovine who bounces in close proximity to a human, regardless of the reason or who or what it was directed at needs to have an immediate come to jesus meeting, your fault, my fault, nobody's fault. Anyone who would run the other way rather than run full force at the animal with a 2X4 or other implement of intended destruction has no business being in the same enclosure with anything bigger than a chicken. Um, IMO.

 

[Brute 23]

A playful bovine will hurt you just as well as an aggressive one. The intent doesn't matter since the resulting injury to you or the wife will be the same. Animal shelters are full of dogs that are there because their owners didn't understand their basic behavior. Now we are seeing the same thing happening with cattle. Good animals getting shipped that don't need to. Not really my business since it's not my farm, my time or my money, but I just hate preventable waste and it's a be nice shame.

For amusement I sometimes follow some of the backyard farmer type forums watching for disasters in the making by some of these people, because you usually can't tell them otherwise. Any bovine who bounces in close proximity to a human, regardless of the reason or who or what it was directed at needs to have an immediate come to jesus meeting, your fault, my fault, nobody's fault. Anyone who would run the other way rather than run full force at the animal with a 2X4 or other implement of intended destruction has no business being in the same enclosure with anything bigger than a chicken. Um, IMO.

Good post. I know every one has to start some where but these people seem to never take the advice of the more experienced people.

It's not my business either and I do believe at the end of the day it's your money so you make the call... but I hate seeing good animals go to waste because of ignorant owners.

 

[Muddy]

Me too, I hate to see good animals get butchered for just being a heifer.

 

[Kell-inKY]

Anyone who would run the other way rather than run full force at the animal with a 2X4 or other implement of intended destruction has no business being in the same enclosure with anything bigger than a chicken. Um, IMO.

my reference to being chased was when I was around 10 years old and we had a couple of mean ones, I agree with your statement though.

 

[Brute 23]

Isn't that like rule #1 or #2 in the cattle business?

I remember being told never turn your back on a cow and always stand your ground. Not sure which one came first.

When I was younger my "Houston uncle" came down and was fishing at the tank. One of the bulls down there started messing with him and he came up back to the house saying it tried to charge him and all kinds of stuff. My dad got mad because when he asked him what he did he said he ran to the truck and left. My dad told him some thing to the effect now he is going to do it all the time... ect... ect My uncle smarted back some thing about... you go do it then. So there we go to the pasture. My dad grabbed a big stick and I was following along on his heels probably 7 or 8. I remember him saying some thing like get big and don't back down. That bull was pawing and bellering and all kinds of stuff. I was scared to death. He walked right up to that bull and busted him across the head. When the bull turned we went to wapping until he was running faster than we could. :lol:

Now with all my replacement heifers I take my fiber glass stick in with me to feed. If I can reach them they get popped. They learn to respect your space. I do the same things with relatives but I use a hot shot.